Greg Torres

https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/2023-preview-under-the-radar-leaders-to-watch-in-los-angeles/

Los Angeles Magazine – Jan. 9, 2023

by Jon Regardie

On Nov. 8, Robert Luna was elected the 34th sheriff of L.A. County. The former Long Beach police chief soon made what may be the most important hiring decision of his career: He tapped 28-year Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department veteran Tardy to be undersheriff, the second-in-command.

Tardy’s elevation was widely praised. She has experience at all levels of the department, starting as a deputy at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women. She served as a gang investigator and rose to sergeant, lieutenant, captain and chief. Even amid the circus atmosphere of previous Sheriff Alex Villanueva, she managed to operate with integrity—last summer she testified before the department’s Civilian Oversight Commission about staffers who were members of sometimes violent cliques.

Tardy in 2023 will be crucial to Luna’s effort to rebuild public trust in the department. She also becomes a vital conduit to a department staff notoriously cool to outsiders, and someone who can advise him on where the real problems lie, and who his true allies are. If Luna is to make progress this year, he will need Tardy’s expert hand.